Ever since a person first threw a stick to knock fruit from a tree, the ability to select and use tools has been a defining human characteristic. Experience and intelligence have also enabled tools to be fashioned to perform more complex work and to work in combination with other tools. The increased complexity and sophistication of modern tools has also increased the complexity of the systems constructed from those tools. This complexity is challenging many aspects of contemporary life, including the continued advancement of methods for designing, analyzing and selecting systems to perform complex services.
As used herein, a “system,” regardless of its complexity, includes any group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements to perform a particular task of work. Systems can be mechanical, chemical, biological, electronic, or financial in nature and involve any combination of technology or economics to produce a desired outcome. As an example, an information system can include computers, software, power networks, storage media, user manuals and associated input and output devices that collect, process, and present data and information. A system is both a singular tool, as well as a combination of tools and other resources that are assembled, operated and relied upon concurrently in order to perform a specific assigned task of work.
Any decision to select and use a system involves a necessary determination that the system can be trusted to perform the work for which the system is being selected. Trust decisions evaluate the suitability of the system as well as the likelihood the system will perform as anticipated. Trusting a system is a crucial variable in the ability to assemble and operate more complex systems, particularly information systems and communication systems. In the absence of confidence that a more complex system will operate as intended, without incurring unacceptable risks or costs, a system will not be trusted. The inability of a system to be trustworthy prevents an affirmative decision to select and use a system and dooms the practical success of the system itself.
Historically, trust has been considered as a qualitative or emotional value not readily capable of quantitative analysis or management. Those engaged in system design, evaluation and selection have lacked the tools and resources with which to assess a system's trustworthiness. The absence of suitable tools and resources has also made it difficult to design systems to take account of, and adapt to, the risks and costs associated with the use of that system. As a result, many systems are developed with a substantial degree of trial and error, with limited quantitative evaluations of how the design and function of the system induce trustworthiness.
For information systems, much of the attention given to trust focuses on issues relating to the security and integrity of the information processes performed by those systems. This approach, largely embodied in risk management methods, focuses on mitigating risks with technology and process controls that may be available but fails to incorporate into the design and evaluation processes the many factors that influence how humans decide to trust a system, including any system made up of multiple components or systems. Current processes also lack a means of incorporating into a system's design or selection critical variables that influence the trust decision. These additional variables reflect (a) the frameworks of business and legal rules that apply to the work to be performed, such as transactions in an information system, (b) the costs associated with a system's use and operation, and (c) information and performance data regarding the historical and current operations of a system (or its components) in performing the work for which they have been selected.
The absence of a predictive tool associated with evaluating trust and capable of use in the design, construction, operation, selection and use of systems permits significant inefficiencies to persist in the use of existing systems and the innovation of more complex systems. These inefficiencies transform themselves into concerns regarding the trustworthiness of systems. For example, nearly 45% of American businesses report that their lack of trust in online transaction systems prevent them from making greater use of those systems. Similar concerns characterize consumer and government confidence in many different kinds of information and mechanical systems, including those used to operate aircraft, support medical care, conduct online purchases, access electronic libraries or educate children. To date, no tool or method exists by which trustworthiness can be integrated into the design, selection and use of systems and their components or their ongoing operation.